The moment the hellfire of the Infernal Duke went awry within the suddenly formed cluster of light, his eyebrows twitched sharply. It hadn’t been blocked and destroyed—it had simply missed. But given the hellfire’s nature to utterly ‘destroy’ everything, such a thing was impossible.
Yes. It was something that almost never happened.
An impossibility.
A result that could never be achieved under the current circumstances.
Yet, it had become reality.
Step by step… step by step…
Then, suddenly, the sound of footsteps echoed from somewhere. Not only the users but even the Infernal Duke turned their gaze toward the approaching sound. And when they saw Ansoul walking slowly toward them, a near-joyful gasp broke out among the users. At a moment when a priest was desperately needed, the ultimate priest had appeared.
“Sol!”
“Ansoul!”
Anhyun and Lee Yujeong shouted simultaneously. As if responding to their calls, Ansoul raised his staff high. A flash of light burst from its tip, gently settling over everyone except the Infernal Duke.
“Is… our strength recovering?”
Anhyun muttered in disbelief, staring at the light enveloping his entire body. Cha Sorim, repeatedly clenching and unclenching her fists, wore an expression of utter disbelief. Everyone was stunned. No miracle spell had been cast. Yet, with just a single incantation, their wounds were healing, and their energy was returning. It wasn’t a full 100% recovery, but it was more than enough to fight again.
Kim Soohyun was no different. The bleeding that had soaked his entire body stopped, and his broken bones realigned. His battered, nearly ragged body was restored enough for normal activity.
Of course, this didn’t mean his depleted life force was returning. After all, his death had already been sealed as the price for using his flame abilities. But the ‘Unfallible’ EX-rank skill had barely kept him alive, and now, thanks to Ansoul’s intervention, his life was extended—if only for a moment.
“Was that nonsense just now your doing, you little brat?”
The Infernal Duke glared at Ansoul, his tone sharp and displeased. Understandably so—anyone could see the battle was nearly over. Then suddenly, a priest barged in, forcing them to start all over again. And it happened in the blink of an eye.
“Who knows.”
Ansoul answered calmly, stopping beside Kim Soohyun. His staff, which had been raised to the sky, now pointed directly at the Infernal Duke.
“If you don’t believe me, feel free to test it again.”
The Infernal Duke’s lips twisted oddly—not so much out of arrogance, but because Ansoul’s strange confidence grated on him.
But that wasn’t all. The recovered users had already spread out, surrounding the Infernal Duke. And Kim Soohyun, who had been half-conscious moments ago, was now fully alert.
“You’re just waking up?”
Kim Soohyun said quietly, still staring at the Infernal Duke.
“My dream was a bit long.”
Ansoul replied softly.
“But how did you block that attack just now? Or did you make it miss?”
“When Miracle and the Impossible (Blue Dahlia) combine, what do you think happens?”
A question answered with a question.
“…Isn’t that cheating?”
Kim Soohyun muttered quietly, then let out a dry laugh. Taking a deep breath, he gripped his sword tightly and raised it.
Then—
Wooooooosh!
A deep, resonant hum of magic filled the users’ ears. At the same time, the briefly cleared world was once again bathed in a crimson glow—the exact same phenomenon that had occurred when the Infernal Duke was summoned earlier.
Of course, the Infernal Duke hadn’t pulled any tricks. The summoning was already complete.
But at that moment, the users took the sound of magic as a signal to resume the fight and launched their attacks at the Infernal Duke. Neither Kim Soohyun nor anyone else present understood what was happening. So, faced with something they couldn’t comprehend, they assumed the Infernal Duke was up to something and struck swiftly.
From the Infernal Duke’s perspective, it was an unfair assumption—but it didn’t matter. Kim Soohyun was nearly finished, and the other users were mere pests, whether healed or not.
Thinking this, the Infernal Duke retreated sharply, dodging the reckless magical attacks, and gripped his fiery whip tightly in his left hand.
Bang!
“…?!”
With a harsh impact, the Infernal Duke’s head snapped back toward the sky. For a moment, confusion clouded his mind. He had dodged all the magical attacks, yet somehow, a magical strike had landed on his jaw without anyone noticing. It wasn’t a severe blow—just enough to make him flinch—but the fact that he’d been hit at all was significant.
The magic that struck the Infernal Duke’s jaw was none other than Jeagal Haesol’s doing. Haesol’s magic power was currently at 102 points. If the difference between 100 and 101 points was like night and day, then the gap between 101 and 102 was even more pronounced. The Infernal Duke had underestimated Haesol, treating him as he had before, and that was his mistake.
This single error proved fatal. Seizing the moment the Infernal Duke stepped back again, the melee users swarmed him like a hive of bees. Their attacks weren’t perfectly coordinated like clockwork—they just charged recklessly—but their sheer determination made them a threat not to be underestimated.
“You pests…!”
The Infernal Duke roared, swinging his fiery whip with all his might. The twin whips lashed out mercilessly, toppling most of the users. But almost immediately, Ansoul cast a healing spell, and the users, wrapped in a glow of light, sprang back up and charged again.
Just one priest joining the fight had shifted the battle’s course.
“Dowari!”
Unable to stop the charging Gong Chanho from closing in, the Infernal Duke was rammed again with a shoulder tackle—like a wild boar. It didn’t deal a major blow, but it was enough to break the Infernal Duke’s stance and force him to retreat once more.
After allowing Jeagal Haesol’s magic attack due to a moment’s lapse, the Infernal Duke was still reeling. The rapid succession of events was overwhelming, but the subtle changes in the attacks now grated on his nerves.
Most of all, the priest trailing behind, continuously chanting healing spells, was a thorn in his side. Thanks to that priest, those who would have fallen with a single blow before were now springing back up like roly-polies, throwing themselves into the fray with reckless abandon—as if entrusting their extra lives to that priest.
‘Me, being pushed around by these punks?’
Once by a magic attack.
Once by Jeagal Haesol’s magic strike.
Once by Gong Chanho’s charge.
In total, the Infernal Duke had been forced to retreat three times.
He couldn’t accept it.
“Enough already!”
His face twisted into a fierce snarl, the Infernal Duke’s anger boiled over. Having been cornered this far, he no longer thought of holding back or showing mercy. His only thought was to kill in a single blow before any healing could take effect.
Just as he gathered his power to unleash the hellfire’s full force—
Shaaang…
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew from the front. But this was no ordinary breeze—it carried a strange metallic sound, an alien whisper slicing through the air. It cut through the users and struck the Infernal Duke where he least expected.
“…!”
In that split second, the Infernal Duke faced two choices:
Unleash his power now.
Or retreat once more.
His countless battles had honed his instincts, and they urged him to choose the latter.
As he hastily stepped back—
Swoosh.
A thin gust brushed past his throat. Then, a scarlet streak of light flashed before his eyes, sending a chill down his spine. He realized just how close he had come to death.
It was obvious who had attacked. Only one person here could deliver a strike that made the Infernal Duke feel the brush of death.
Only then did the heat clouding his mind dissipate, replaced by cold reason.
Since Ansoul’s arrival, the users’ morale had soared. Even now, sensing something from Kim Soohyun’s condition, they relentlessly pursued the retreating Infernal Duke.
‘This is bad.’
Judging the situation, the Infernal Duke stomped the ground with all his might. How many times he had retreated already was unknown, but this leap was a full retreat—his body soaring through the empty air. He intended to regain his composure and assess the situation carefully.
But—
Did the Infernal Duke realize?
In focusing on the users before him, he had made one more mistake.
And that mistake had already closed in on him.
Or rather, he had walked right into it himself.
At the apex of his leap, the Infernal Duke suddenly noticed the world around him growing even redder.
“…Huh?”
Only now did the Hell Duke sense that something was seriously amiss, his voice faltering in disbelief. The grand, resonant hum of magical energy he’d heard earlier flashed through his mind. His wide eyes darted rapidly, scanning every direction without missing a single detail.
The first thing to catch his gaze was a crimson barrier, shaped like an inverted disc. Below it, an immense surge of magical power churned wildly.
The moment he took it all in, the Hell Duke finally understood the nature of this anomaly.
“The dimensional transfer formation has been activated!”
His intuition was spot on. Ever since that strange magical hum and the world’s sudden reddening, the dimensional transfer formation had been in effect. And the Hell Duke had unwittingly stepped right into the very formation Helena had successfully triggered.
Of course, this was no part of the Hell Duke’s plan—it was sheer luck on Helena’s part.
By the time Sasha had rushed off to deliver Helena’s message, the battle had already resumed. Yet, the fight was unfolding exactly as Helena intended.
The Hell Duke, repeatedly forced back by Ansol’s intervention and the users’ suddenly altered attacks, narrowly dodged Kim Suhyun’s strike and decided to regroup. He leapt backward with all his might to create distance—but he overshot. He landed well within the dimensional transfer formation’s range.
The purpose of activating the formation was simple: to send the Hell Duke back to where he belonged.
Though the Hell Duke knew this, his mind was consumed by one question: “How on earth?”
Even if the formation had been successfully activated, it wouldn’t work without a proper sacrifice.
But as his body began to fall faster than expected, the Hell Duke looked down in confusion—and locked eyes with a lone blonde woman standing at the center of the formation. His eyes widened in shock, emotions flooding them like spilled paint, tearing them open.
The blonde woman looked human, but only in appearance. Her soul was something else entirely.
“You… you are…!”
“That should be a sufficient sacrifice, don’t you think?”
The two women’s voices overlapped. Before the Hell Duke could respond, his body was sucked downward, plunging into the formation’s center. At the same moment, the space split open, and a reddish light engulfed him.
“Grrrkk, grrkk!”
A grating metallic sound followed.
“Ah… ah…!”
When the Hell Duke barely regained consciousness, his lower body was already swallowed by the rift. Alarmed, he looked down to see himself being pulled deeper inside.
“No, no!”
He cried out desperately, struggling to crawl free. But the reddish light enveloping him flared brighter, pushing him back inside.
“What… what is that?”
Kim Suhyun and the other users who had followed the Hell Duke stopped in their tracks at the sight of the red barrier. They stared blankly at the scene before them.
It was impossible to look away.
The overwhelming magical energy flowing through the crimson barrier.
The gaping rift at its center.
The Hell Duke being swallowed by that void.
And Helena, her form fading, barely visible.
Who could possibly make sense of this?
“Helena!”
Kim Suhyun shouted.
“You must not enter,” Helena said calmly.
“If you go in, you’ll dissolve like me and be absorbed by the dimensional transfer formation.”
Her words stopped the impatient users who had been about to rush in.
“What do you mean…?”
“Didn’t Sasha tell you?”
“…?”
“I’m the only sacrifice needed.”
The users still looked puzzled. But Kim Suhyun’s expression shifted as he recalled the information he’d confirmed earlier with his Third Eye. The moment he heard “sacrifice,” something clicked. He instinctively realized Helena had sacrificed herself to activate the formation.
But even knowing this now, there was nothing Kim Suhyun could do. In truth, it had been too late from the moment Helena triggered the formation.
The world remained bathed in red, and the rift that had opened wide was slowly shrinking. Helena’s body was nearly gone, only her upper torso faintly visible. This was a clear sign the dimensional transfer formation was nearing completion.
“Is this… goodbye, then?”
Helena smiled faintly. Seeing that smile, Kim Suhyun felt an overwhelming weariness wash over him. By this point, he hadn’t been thinking much—only focusing all his energy on facing the Hell Duke, prepared to face death.
“You…”
Now, with the Hell Duke’s end imminent and Helena’s sudden farewell looming, Kim Suhyun was at a loss. His tension suddenly snapped, his mind went blank, and all he wanted was to collapse right there.
With a soft thud, the Surama spear slipped from his left hand to the ground.
At that moment—
“What a joke you all are.”
The Hell Duke’s calm voice echoed in the users’ ears.
“You think one sacrifice is enough? Really?”
Startled by the voice, Kim Suhyun looked up again. When he glanced at the formation’s center, his brow furrowed. Something felt off.
Helena’s smile vanished, replaced by a look of panic.
The Hell Duke’s panic faded, replaced by a smile.
The situation was reversing. The rift was shrinking, Helena was nearly gone—but the Hell Duke was only half swallowed.
Things were going wrong.
To be precise, the formation was almost complete, but there was no sign the Hell Duke was being forcibly sent back. The reddish glow surrounding him was dimming.
“You really thought you could force me away with the soul of a dead dragon? How laughable.”
The Hell Duke sneered, clearly mocking them. In other words, the sacrifice was insufficient to forcibly send away someone of his caliber. Helena’s face showed clear disbelief.
Then—
“If it’s not enough, we’ll just add more.”
Suddenly, a youthful voice stepped forward. The Hell Duke glanced at Ansol and scowled.
“Ah, it’s you again?”
The Hell Duke’s murderous glare met Ansol’s calm composure.
After staring her down for a moment, the Hell Duke burst into a mocking laugh. He assumed the formation would fail soon, and that there wouldn’t be enough time to prepare a proper sacrifice.
“Fine. I’m curious to see what you’ll do. Go ahead, then.”
“…”
“Come on, what’s the matter? Planning to be the next sacrifice? Then step inside—unless you value your life.”
“…”
Ansol’s eyes narrowed at the taunt. Kim Suhyun bit his lip, ready to intervene if she faltered.
But Ansol didn’t take the bait.
“Helena unni, thank you. And I’m sorry.”
She bowed her head toward Helena, whose form was now barely visible.
Did the Hell Duke sense the unease?
“What are you planning?”
he asked sharply.
Ansol said nothing. She slowly raised the staff in her right hand.
“Miracle…!”
Her voice was clear and calm as she spoke the two-word incantation.
Then—
A brilliant white light descended from the sky, gently enveloping the world that had been drenched in red.
---------------------------= Author’s Note =---------------------------
…Wait, please put down your stones and hear me out. Since I promised to finish this part today, I will. But I’m really sleepy right now and can’t write well, so I’ll take a short nap and then post the rest. Honestly, as you can see, there’s not much left.
I’ll postpone the reply to comments until the next update. If I try now, I’m too drowsy to respond properly.
I still have about 22 unread messages. After I wake up and update, I’ll reply to them one by one.
Yes, someone asked—after Season 3 ends, I plan to take a short break. I’ve been running nonstop and am pretty exhausted. But don’t worry, it won’t be long—maybe a day or at most three.